Strategic stream gauging network design for sustainable water management

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 3rd, 2024

Stream gauging stations that monitor the flow of water in rivers and streams provide critical information to water managers, but biases and gaps in gauge placement, compo

Stream gauging stations that monitor the flow of water in rivers and streams provide critical information to water managers, but biases and gaps in gauge placement, compounded by gauge deactivations, limit our ability to track river flows and address global water challenges. Here we introduce an approach for identifying gauging sites to efficiently fill gaps in monitoring coverage within river networks while also addressing water management priorities, including reservoir operations, biodiversity conservation and hydroclimatic monitoring. Applying this approach to gauges in California, United States, we found substantial gaps in the stream monitoring network. Hypothetically reconfiguring gauges to locations that maximize coverage and representation of management objectives highlights the current network’s biases. Through the strategic reactivation and placement of additional gauges, we demonstrate how stream gauging networks can be designed to support sustainable water management.

Strategic Workplan for Activities in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | July 16th, 2008

Strategies for Managing the Colorado River in an Uncertain Future

Utah State University | January 11th, 2020

Colorado River managers and stakeholders face many uncertainties—issues such as climate change, future water demand, and evolving ecological priorities. Managers and st

Colorado River managers and stakeholders face many uncertainties—issues such as climate change, future water demand, and evolving ecological priorities. Managers and stakeholders are looking for new ways to communicate about uncertain future conditions, help cope with an uncertain future, and develop public policy when future conditions are highly uncertain. Historically, Colorado River managers have operated Lake Powell and Lake Mead under the assumption that the future natural flow regime of the Colorado River at Lee Ferry will resemble the previously observed regime, but most climate scientists believe that the flow regime is changing, and that future flows will be lower, more variable, and more uncertain.

Strategies for Managing the Effects of Urban Development on Streams

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | November 8th, 2012

This report serves as a companion report associated with the NAWQA effects of urban development on stream ecosystems Circular 1373, and illustrates management strategies

This report serves as a companion report associated with the NAWQA effects of urban development on stream ecosystems Circular 1373, and illustrates management strategies used in the United States to reduce the impacts of urban development on stream systems described in Coles and others, 2012 (see Effects of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystems). Chapter 2 of this report presents a brief history of urban stream management in the United States, providing a context for the management strategies presented in later chapters. Chapter 3 introduces broad management goals linked to the USGS urban study findings about the relation between urban development and the physical, chemical, and biological condition of stream systems, and illustrates how these goals have been addressed using case study examples. Chapter 4 presents more detailed examples of management strategies that can be used to suppport the broad goals introduced in Chapter 3. The management strategies are drawn from the experiences of jurisdictions that are seeking to protect the condition of streams in urbanizing watersheds. These strategies are presented not as recommended courses of action but as examples of how municipalities have responded to the challenges of managing urban streams. Chapter 5 discusses three recurring challenges faced by those managing urbanizing streams as they develop and implement management strategies to improve the health of these stream systems. RELATED DOCUMENT: Effects of Urban Development on Stream Ecosystems in Nine Metropolitan Study Areas Across the United States

Strategy for In-Bay Fate Modeling to Support Contaminant and Sediment Management in San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | August 15th, 2022

This report presents a strategy and multi-year workplan for modeling polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), and sediment in San Franci

This report presents a strategy and multi-year workplan for modeling polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), and sediment in San Francisco Bay (the Bay). Robust in-Bay fate modeling is needed to address priority management questions that have been identified for these constituents.

Stratigraphic Analysis of Corte Madera Creek Flood Control Channel Deposits

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | September 3rd, 2019

Sedimentation in a channel can reduce flood conveyance capability and potentially place nearby property and life at risk from flooding. In 1998, Marin County Public Works

Sedimentation in a channel can reduce flood conveyance capability and potentially place nearby property and life at risk from flooding. In 1998, Marin County Public Works dredged the concrete-lined segment of Corte Madera Creek, which drains a hilly and largely urbanized watershed that terminates in San Francisco Bay, California. From then through 2015, approximately 4,100 cubic meters of sand and gravel infilled the concrete-lined segment. Determining when and under what conditions this material was deposited informs dredging operations for the Corte Madera Creek Flood Control Project and increases understanding of sediment delivery timing and mechanisms from this and other San Francisco Bay tributaries. Two hypothesized scenarios were investigated: (1) complete flushing during high flows and re-deposition of channel fill afterward and (2) more steady, gradual channel infilling. Stratigraphic analysis of eight sediment cores collected from the flood-control channel deposits in August 2017 was used to identify the most likely scenario. In addition, sediment elevation profiles, grain-size data, and a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model were used to assess the potential for longitudinal-channel scour and deposition following the wet winter of water year 2017 in the intertidal reach of the concrete channel in Corte Madera Creek. Results indicated the channel is undergoing gradual infilling. Storm flows of water year 2017 did not completely scour the concrete channel fill. Sediment cores, stratigraphic analysis, and sediment elevation profiles indicated 0.23 meter of scour at the downstream end of the concrete-lined section and that roughly 0.5 meter of channel fill remained in the channel. The hydrodynamic model demonstrated that sediment deposition in the concrete channel is expected to start downstream from the point where the channel bed reaches mean lower low-water level. High flows can carry most of the sediment through this segment of channel, depositing the bed-material load downstream from the transition to a wide channel, where velocity and bed shear stress decrease abruptly. Although the storm flows of 2017 did not completely scour the channel fill, subsequent material deposited in the channel could be transported downstream from the concrete channel if the sediment elevation profile is in equilibrium with present (2019) mean sea level. A calibrated, coupled hydrodynamic-sediment transport model could be used to test the present equilibrium between sediment elevation profiles and mean sea level, such that additional sediment build-up in the concrete channel is remobilized during subsequent wet-season flows and deposited downstream from the concrete-lined segment.

Stratigraphic controls on seawater intrusion and implications for groundwater management, Dominguez Gap area of Los Angeles, California, USA

Hydrogeology Journal (Springer) | May 30th, 2009

Groundwater pumping has led to extensive waterlevel declines and seawater intrusion in coastal Los Angeles, California (USA). A SUTRA-based solute-transport model was dev

Groundwater pumping has led to extensive waterlevel declines and seawater intrusion in coastal Los Angeles, California (USA). A SUTRA-based solute-transport model was developed to test the hydraulic implications of a sequence-stratigraphic model of the Dominguez Gap area and to assess the effects of water-management scenarios. The model is two-dimensional, vertical and follows an approximate flow line extending fromthe Pacific Ocean through the Dominguez Gap area. Results indicate that a newly identified fault system can provide a pathway for transport of seawater and that a stratigraphic boundary located between the Bent Spring and Upper Wilmington sequences may control the vertical movement of seawater. Three 50-year water-management scenarios were considered: (1) no change in water-management practices; (2) installation of a slurry wall; and (3) raising inland water levels to 7.6m above sea level. Scenario 3 was the most effective by reversing seawater intrusion. The effects of an instantaneous 1-m sealevel rise were also tested using water-management scenarios 1 and 3. Results from two 100-year simulations indicate that a 1-m sea-level rise may accelerate seawater intrusion for scenario 1; however, scenario 3 remains effective for controlling seawater intrusion.

Strawberry Case Study: What If Farmers Had to Pay for Water?

New York Times | December 29th, 2023

While American farmers elsewhere have watered their crops by freely pumping the groundwater beneath their land, growers in Pajaro must pay hefty fees for irrigation water

While American farmers elsewhere have watered their crops by freely pumping the groundwater beneath their land, growers in Pajaro must pay hefty fees for irrigation water — making it one of the most expensive places to grow food in the country, if not the world. The cost: Up to $400 per acre-foot, a standard measurement equal to water covering one acre, one foot deep. The fees bring in $12 million a year, which is used to recycle, restore and conserve the region’s groundwater.

Stream Flow and Losses of the Colorado River in the Southern Colorado Plateau

Utah State University | September 18th, 2020

A confounding uncertainty for predicting stream flow and losses in anticipation of renegotiation of the 2007 Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages concerns the acc

A confounding uncertainty for predicting stream flow and losses in anticipation of renegotiation of the 2007 Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages concerns the accuracy and precision of those data. Several key gages that are not used in CRSS and are not considered part of the standard network of gages used to manage the Colorado River offer critical insight into understanding future watershed conditions.

Streamflow depletion by wells—Understanding and managing the effects of groundwater pumping on streamflow

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | December 21st, 2012

Groundwater provides drinking water for millions of Americans and is the primary source of water to irrigate cropland in many of the Nation’s most productive agricultur

Groundwater provides drinking water for millions of Americans and is the primary source of water to irrigate cropland in many of the Nation’s most productive agricultural regions. Withdrawals in many aquifers throughout the United States have led to significant groundwater-level declines, resulting in growing concerns about sustainability and higher pumping costs. The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Groundwater Resources Program has been instrumental in documenting groundwater declines and in developing groundwater-flow models for use in sustainably managing withdrawals. Groundwater withdrawals also can lead to a reduction in streamflow, affecting both human uses and ecosystems. The first clear articulation of the effects of groundwater pumping on surface water was by the well-known USGS hydrologist C.V. Theis. In a paper published in 1940 entitled "The Source of Water Derived from Wells," Theis pointed out that pumped groundwater initially comes from reductions in aquifer storage. As pumping continues, the effects of groundwater withdrawals can spread to distant connected streams, lakes, and wetlands through decreased rates of discharge from the aquifer to these surface-water systems. In some settings, increased rates of aquifer recharge also occur in response to pumping, including recharge from the connected surface-water features. Associated with this decrease in groundwater discharge to surface waters is an increased rate of aquifer recharge. Pumping-induced increased inflow to and decreased outflow from an aquifer is now called "streamflow depletion" or "capture." Groundwater discharge is a significant component of streamflow, with groundwater contributing as much as 90 percent of annual streamflow volume in some parts of the country. In order to effectively manage the entire water resource for multiple competing uses, hydrologists and resource managers must understand the effects (magnitude, timing, and locations) of ground-water pumping on rivers, streams, springs, wetlands, and groundwater-dependent vegetation. This circular, developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program, presents concepts relating to streamflow depletion, methods for quantifying depletion, and common misconceptions regarding depletion. Approaches for monitoring, understanding, and managing streamflow depletion also are described. The report is written for a wide audience interested in the development, management, and protection of the Nation's water resources. The Groundwater Resources Program provides objective scientific information and develops the interdisciplinary understanding necessary to assess and quantify the availability of the Nation's groundwater resources. Detailed assessments of regional aquifers have been completed in seven of the Nation’s major aquifers, with several additional assessments ongoing or planned. The research and understanding developed through this program for issues such as streamflow depletion can provide the Nation’s water-resource managers with the tools and information needed to manage this important natural resource.